Eco towns not so green - 8 July 2008

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

Any regular readers of this blog will notice that one of my hobby-horses is the protection of the environment. While I’m no tree-hugging campaigner, I do take an active interest in saving energy where possible. I verge on the OCD by constantly turning off lights and appliances that aren’t being used, much to the annoyance of housemates and family alike, and make efforts to use my car as little as possible.

Above all, I get frustrated by the lack of leadership shown by the politicians in taking on green issues. Sure, Dave Cameron has a wind turbine on his house and cycles to work, as do many other Westminster bodies, and it is hard not to feel even a little amusement and admiration at seeing Boris Johnson baffooning his way across London through red lights and along pavements on his bicycle.

The problem is that most of these efforts are being undermined in the policies the politicians put forward in the endless chase for the popular vote. Britain is rock bottom of the European table for producing energy from renewable sources, and even with the promised extension of the power we generate from wind and solar resource, we will remain well behind our neighbours.

This was meant to change with the introduction of a series of flagship ‘eco towns’ dotted around the country. But, predictably, the government, local lobbyists and various other bodies have combined to their best effect to produce a fudge of monumental proportions which is threatening to render the whole process a waste of time and money.

The first problem is the land. Proposed sites are largely on MOD land, which means development will net the government coffers up to £275 million. Moreover, there is a certain lack of logic to building an eco town in the protected countryside, where no-one else would be able to get planning permission. The proposed sites of the eco towns are also away from existing networks of public transport, meaning there is likely to be more reliance on cars for getting around than in a normal non-eco town.

Local opposition has been stronger than anticipated, with many residents complaining that the new developments will damage the environment and lead to a blight on the landscape. Some of the proposals are also said to increase the risk of flooding for other local settlements, given their positioning and the extra run-off water they will feed into overburdened systems.

Another worry is how many of the proposals for building the eco towns come from companies with strong links to Asda or Tesco. Could it be that the supermarkets are keen to produce their own towns full of people who have little choice but to shop at the local mammoth supermarket?

Best of all though, are the plans for the buildings themselves. The Sunday Telegraph has reported that ministers have now lowered the environmental standards required in the eco towns. The buildings will now not have to conform to the highest standards of sustainability and energy efficiency that will be required of all new homes by 2016.

Surely, if the properties in the eco towns don’t conform to the same environmental standards that will be required of all new homes in a couple of years, the towns will be less ‘eco’ than downtown Dartford? Even the Council for the Protection of Rural England has recommended that the scheme for ten eco towns be replaced by one or two truly environmentally-friendly developments.

From a government that is seen by many to be on its last legs, this seems like an effort to push through any proposals it can before being booted out of office.

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